It's Okay To Take Down Your Walls
by ljsmithfan188
Summary: We all have walls. Secrets. But Nico di Angelo may have the strongest walls of all of us. And so does someone else, someone... exotic. But they don't want to take down their walls. Show vulnerability. Open up to another person.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, readers! Just so you know, I don't own PJO, Rick Riordan does. And no flames are welcome, so please, keep your hurtful opinions to yourself. Anyway, here's Chapter 1. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 1**

**Nico POV**

I threw my head back, making an irritated noise. I was sitting inside my Hades cabin, with the prophecy written down in front of me. There was just no figuring it out. I flopped down on my bed and thought about it.

_Seven half-bloods will answer the call_

_To storm or fire, the world must fall_

_An oath to keep with a final breath_

_And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death_

It was confusing. Death probably had something to do with the Underworld, and the oath part sounds like someone promised something, or went through some ritual. Chiron and Apollo had told me not to worry about it, since it might not even happen in my lifetime, but it was bound to happen. And I wanted to know in whose lifetime, when, and where. I thought about the order of the lines._ Seven half-bloods will... go on a quest? Yeah, that's probably what 'answer the call' means. And then the world will fall to storm or fire. So from a flood or fire. An oath to keep. An oath to keep. _Those words kept swirling around in my head, but I couldn't figure out what it could mean. It probably wouldn't be a promise that someone had made years ago, that would be too easy. Then it struck me. _It's probably something like Luke and Annabeth's promise. Something that meant the world to someone. And could mean the _end_ of the world to everyone. But 'with a final breath'. Maybe like how Luke died saving Olympus. He kept his promise with a last breath. _And then there was the 'foes' part to think about. _Foes bear arms to the Doors of Death. _Like I had thought before, the 'Doors of Death' probably meant the Underworld. _So the enemies will... join the Underworld? No, that makes no sense. They... surrender to the Underworld? No, why would they do that? Maybe... maybe they find a sanctuary or a hiding place in the Underworld._

Then I looked at the alarm clock on my bedside table and said, "Shit." It said that it was 7:00, which meant I was going to be late for dinner. Don't ask me why I hate being late, I just do. Maybe it's the way people stare at you. I hate attention. But when I started walking up to the eating area, no one was staring at me. No, they were all focused on something else. I edged closer to see what all the commotion was about. Then I saw. There was a girl standing in the center of a ring of demi-gods. They were all shouting questions at her.

The questions were things like, "Do you know who your parent is?" "Where are you from?" "Did you come across any monsters?" But all the girl could do was stare at them, unable to answer the questions of the raging mob. As I got closer, I could see that she had staight pale blonde hair that went down to her waist, which was quite small in diameter, if you know what I mean. Her skin was a creamy pale, and shadows danced behind her green cat-like eyes, like she had seen too much.

All I could do was stare at her. She was beautiful. But she had an inner darkness, a black fire that burned inside her. A fire that could burn people alive. A fire that would fry anything in it's path. A fire that would scare most people out of their wits. But she didn't scare me, because I couldn't get past her face. It was beautiful. I could see other guys my age, staring at her, too. Some were drooling. Others were looking like they were trying to take her clothes off with their eyes.

Then Chiron jumped in, saying that we should all go back to our tables and let the girl eat in peace. The girl seemed relieved, and sat down at the Hermes table, seeing as she was unclaimed. I ate my dinner in silence, and walked back to my empty cabin. I felt like dropping in and seeing how dad was doing, something to get my mind off the girl.

I went out to find Mrs. O'Leary, the friendly hellhound. She was by the Aphrodite cabin, for reasons only known to her. I got onto her back, and sped off.

For those of you who don't know, shadow-traveling is hard work, so you can see why I almost collapsed when the trip ended. Soon we were in the Underworld, and I was on my way to see my father.

I found him pacing in a dark hallway, and I went up to him. "Hi, Dad."

He looked startled for a moment, then regained his gallant composure. "Hello, Nico. What brings you spoiled brat down here today?" I didn't feel like arguing with him about the fact that I wasn't spoiled, and that I had monsters probably tracking me down right now. And that I had a girl on the brain. But apparently he read my expression and said, "Girl trouble?"

"Sort of," was all I responded to that question. "So how are things going around here?"

"Not so good." Hades must have seen my frightened expression, because he said, "Not like that. Architecture problems. The beams on this place look like they're about to cave in." I nodded.

"So, I kind of shadow-traveled here, and you probably know how much energy that takes up, so if you could just-"

"Oh, look," Hades interruped me, "My son is asking for a favor. I do not know what to say. Of _course _you can stay," he said in a sarcastic voice.

"Dad, please." I gave him the puppy dog look.

"Oh, fine. There's a small room on the third floor. Go before I change my mind." I didn't hesitate before going to the elevator. Whether you dad is an Olympic God or not, he can't say no to the puppy dog look. I laid down in the bed inside the small black room and felll asleep.

When I awoke the next morning, I felt wide-awake and ready to go shadow-traveling again. I didn't have to let my dad know that I was going back to camp, he wouldn't care. I found Mrs. O'Leary and set off.

By the time I got back to camp, I was exhausted and hungry. I headed back to my cabin and looked at the clock. It read 8:50 AM. Deciding that I didn't want to be late to another meal, I left and set out for the eating area. I wasn't the only one who had plans of eatinhg in mind, though. So, it was no surprise that I bumped into someone while I was thinking about sinking my teeth into a Sloppy Joe.

I shook my head, coming back to reality. The girl from yesterday was standing in front of me, startled. Apparently she hadn't been paying attention, either. Deciding that standing there, staring at her wouldn't be a good idea, I came to the conclusion that speaking was the better option. "Hey, you're the new girl, right?" I said. "I'm Nico. And you are?"

"Zelda,"**(A/N: Meaning: 'gray battle maid')** she said, glancing at me without stopping her stride. "See you around, Nico." _See you around. _Those words echoed in my head like hopeful bells. Before I could respond, she was gone.

I began walking in the same direction she had gone in, on the way to breakfast. Soon I was sitting at my table, bored as ever. But it was funny. Today wasn't boring, not in the slightest. A girl who didn't even know I existed talked to me, if only for a few short seconds. Today was definitely _not _boring.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you so much for the CC reviews ! It really helped me a lot! Okay, so I don't have a beta reader because I don't know how, so if anyone could tell me how to get one, it would be really helpful! Oh, and I made my version of pre-Capture The Flag a little different from the book. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 2**

**Zelda POV**

I picked at my breakfast, not really hungry. All I wanted to do was go back to sleep. I felt like a zombie, stumbling around blindly. But then everyone was staring at me. But it was weird. Normally just the guys stare at me. And then I would go through the whole routine of wondering, _Am I ugly or something?_ I looked at the rest of my table. Some of them were mid-chew, just staring above my head. I looked up - and gasped.

There was a large spear above my head. But it wasn't real, it was holographic-like. It just stood there, floating above my head, and soon it disappeared. I stared in awe above me, even after the spear was gone. I didn't notice when it had gone, though, because I was too busy trying to figure out what the spear had meant.

"Congratulations!" Chiron bellowed enthusiastically. "You are now claimed as a Daughter of Ares," he announced.

"Um... Ares?"

"The God of War," a girl from behind me said. I turned around. She was medium-height, with gruff, black wavy hair. She held out a hand. "Clarisse, Daughter of Ares."

I shook her hand, and Chron said, "Now since you have been claimed, you will sleep in the Ares cabin. Nico will help you with your bags. And everyone," Chron said, his voice getting louder. The crowd of teenagers hushed. "Capture The Flag will be held at 5:30 later today." It was probably around 9:30, so Capture The Flag would be at 10:30. _Whatever Capture The Flag is. _But I would have time to worry about that later, because I had other things on my mind right now. _I'm going to have to room with a bunch of Ares kids! They're probably going to expect me to be all mean and tough, but I'm not. The only reason I'm here is to stay safe. And I don't think rooming with Ares children is 'safe'. _Deciding that I wasn't hungry, I scraped the remainings of my breakfast into the fire, and began walking back to my cabin to go to sleep.

**Nico POV**

I saw Zelda walking back to my cabin, and wondered what was wrong with her. But then I had an urge to go back to my cabin. I ignored it for about five more minutes, until I couldn't stand it any longer. I finished my breakfast quickly, and then went back to my cabin.

I fell asleep dreaming:

_I was on a beach, looking up at the sky. It was nighttime, so the stars were out. Then I- heard someone sit down next to me. I looked to my left, and Zelda was there, looking at the sky, too._

_"It's a nice night," she said to me. "Clear sky."_

_"Yeah," was all I said back. I felt uncomfortable, being so close to such a beautiful girl._

_"You look mad," Zelda observed._

_"I'm not mad." And it was true. I wasn't._

_"Then why won't you look at me?"_

_"Because I don't trust myself." That was also true._

_"What do you mean?" She sounded confused._

_"I don't trust myself to look at you, and then to not do this." I pulled her to me, and kissed her. I don't remember ever pulling away._

I awoke with a start. What a weird thing to dream about. I looked at the alarm clock. 5:00 PM. _Whoa. _I couldn't belive that I had slept right through lunch. Not to mention that Capture The Flag would be held in a half hour. I jumped out of bed, and began walking towards where Capture The Flag was held. I always got there early, so that I would get first pick at my weapons. But I passed by Zelda and she glanced at me.

I turned my head so she wouldn't see my blush.

**Zelda POV**

I awoke from my slumber and began to walk somewhere... anywhere. Anywhere away from that cabin. But I passed Nico on the way, and he saw my gaze, then looked away. _Is he mad at me or something? _I shook my head and continued walking. All the guys kept staring at me. _If you're trying to tell me I'm ugly, then I get it! Just stop staring at me! _I kept walking, and saw that some of the campers were gathering around the edge of the woods. I walked over to them. "Why are you guys all over here?" I asked two blondes.

They snickered at me. "Capture The Flag starts in fifteen minutes. Duh," one of them answered. They walked away from me. _Well._

Chiron was in the front, almost looking as if he were leading an army. I walked up to him, hoping he would be friendlier than the girls I had just spoken to. "Chiron, what, exactly, is Capture The Flag?" I asked him.

Chiron looked baffled at my question, surprised I would ask such a thing. "Capture The Flag is when there are two teams, each one hides their flag. Then the other team has to find where their opponent has hidden it. We'll put you on the red team."

"That sounds easy."

"Oh, it's not. Each team will get weapons to defend their flag with."

"That sounds hard." Chiron laughed, and walked away. _Well. Again. _Then I saw Nico coming towards us, and my heart stopped. I mean, sure, there were plenty of hot guys at the camp. But Nico looked... dark. Mysterious. Classic bad-ass. Why had I never noticed this before? I saw him walk toward a table, and I dragged after him in a trance-like state. When my now-scuffed converses caught up with him, I saw that he was picking weapons. _Well, I should probably do the same thing. _So I started choosing my weapons, too, deciding carefully which ones to take. Nico finished, and stalked off. I continued choosing my weapons, lost in thought. I didn't even notice when he left.

Soon I finished, and walked back over to the crowd. I waited, and what seemed like a lifetime later, Chiron announced, "And let the games begin!"

The two teams -red and blue- formed separate circles, discussing their plan. I went over to the red team, trying to stay clued in on what was going on. From what I could tell, we were going to hide the flag in a tree, with someone guarding it. Half the team would stay a little farther back, also guarding it. And then the rest of the team would try to get the other flag. And so, of course, I got chosen to be the one to guard the flag from the tree. All alone. Which, if you ask me, is a _very_ bad idea. I had told the rest of my team this, but they said I proably wouldn't have to do anything anyway. I tried to find reassurance in their words, but couldn't.

Chiron called time, and the teams scattered, hiding the flag and getting into their positions. The blue team went so far into the woods, I couldn't see them anymore. I climbed the tree, placing the flag next to me. Chiron called time again, and the games started.

I saw and heard movement from far away. It kept coming closer. And closer. And soon, I heard it under me. _Don't look down,_ I told myself. If I looked down, I would fall. _Did I mention I'm afraid of heights? Yeah, I should've said so before. _But I knew the real reason why I hadn't told anyone. They would laugh at me. _'Oh, look. It's that Zelda girl, Daughter of Ares. But wait for the good part-she's afraid of heights! Ha ha ha! _The imaginative laughter rang in my ears and I flinched.

But when I looked down -very regretfully, I might add- Nico's handsome face brought me back to the present. He did't see me, which was both good and bad. Good for obvious reasons, and bad for, well, what girl doesn't want a hot guy to look at them? Nico's eyes scanned the area around him, looking for the flag. His eyes finally landed on mine and- Wait! What am I saying? I don't want his eyes on mine! I want those eyes to look away!

But in that moment, I didn't want them to look away. I stared, transfixed, at Nico's face. He jumped up and started climbing the tree. _Oh, God, what am I going to do? ANd how come nobody else on my team is here? _But I didn't have time to stress over that, because Nico was moving toward the flag. I could hear my team's shouts in the distance. They had gotten the flag. But they had to make it to the other side first. And I had to stall NIco, in order to win.

_Well, it's now or never. _And with that thought, I made a jab at Nico. It was to distract him, more than anything else. But it didn't happe like that. WHat happened was I made a jab at Nico, which hit his armor. He swung around, and tried to disarm me. I twisted, deflecting his strike, and disarmed him. He was surprised for a moment, and I took that to my advantage. I used the butt of my sword to knock him to the ground, and he laid there, amazed. Probably seeing stars, too.

And that was the perfect timing, because I heard cheers coming from my team on the other side of the forest. We had won. "Friends?" I asked him.

"Friends," he replied. I helped him up.

After that, we had dinner. It was amazing. Pork chops with mashed potatoes and green beans. Mmm. One of my cabinmates, Marco, got up and went to the Hades table, where Nico sat, his face a mask of boredom. Marco beckoned me overto where he stood beside Nico. I put the remainings of my food into the fire and walked over. "What?"

"Do you two like each other?" Marco asked with a smirk.

Nico blushed and looked away. "No."

"Are you blushing dude?" Marco interrogated Nico, his smirk getting bigger.

Nico put his head down. "No," he said again.

"Go take a hike, Marco," I said to the Son of Ares, and he walked away, smirk still on his face, shaking his head. I trailed behind him, and began to wonder why Nico was blushing.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks so much for all the awesome reviews! In this chapter, I'll try to heat things up a lot. Also, I'm sorry I haven't updated sooner, I've just been really busy this summer. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 3**

**Nico POV**

Over the next few days, me and Zelda grew closer together. As friends. Just friends. Nothing More. Period. As the days passed, I also became more and more annoyed when her siblings accused me of liking their sister. It's a sad day when a guy can't hang out with a pretty girl without being accused of liking her. Shame!

As I was walking towards breakfast, I became so lost in my thoughts of _not _liking Zelda that I bumped into someone. "Sorry," I mumbled as I looked over to see who it was. It was Zelda, and she was as stunning as ever. Her green eyes had a silver-like glint to them that reminded me of a tiger.

"No, it was my fault," Zelda objected. "I should have been watching where I was going. Sorry. I'm still a little dizzy from sword fighting practice." And with that, she kept on walking.

"Wait," I called, surprised that the words were coming from my mouth. "I'm visiting my dad in the Underworld today to see how the architecture is. My dad wanted to talk to Annabeth about it, but she's spending the day with Percy. And since you're her friend and everything, I'm sure she's bored you with all her plans for the Underworld. If anyone besides her knows what she's going to do, it's you, and-"

Zelda cut me off. "Yes, I'll go there with you, on one condition."

_What? What condition? There's a condition? _"Um... Sure, anything," I replied, curious.

"You have to shut up about architecture the whole way there, because I hear enough about it from Annabeth."

I smiled. "I'll do my best." Then a thought came over me. "One more thing." Zelda looked at me expectantly. "You're going to have to spend the night there. We'll leave after dinner." She looked as if she was going to object, then closed her mouth. Without answering me, she walked toward her cabin. I smiled again. _I'll take that as a yes._

Dinner passed by excruciatingly slow. Finally the time came for me and Zelda to take off. I looked over at where she was talking to her siblings. She must have felt my gaze, because she looked up and saw me staring at her. I looked down. I could feel the heat rushing to my face. But then she came over to where I was sitting, and said, "Nico."

I looked up. "Yes?" _Please don't mention me staring at you. Please don't mention me staring at you. Please-_

"I'm ready. Just let me go get my bags."

"Oh, okay," I started to say, but she had already taken off. _Why is it that every time I'm about to say something to her, she's already walking away?_

I decided to meet her around the border of camp, toward the entrance. First I stopped at my cabin and got my one black duffel bag and started to walk toward the entrance. Soon I could see the pale blond halo of Zelda's hair as she started up the hill. She had a huge, red suitcase. By the way she was carrying it, you would think it was made of bricks. I never really noticed what girls wore before. I looked at Zelda. She was wearing a lime green tank top and short denim shorts that were _way_ above her knee, if you know what I mean. Not that I could blame her. It could get really hot here, on Half-Blood Hill.

"Hey," she said as she dropped the suitcase with a loud _thud_.

"Hey," I replied back. I called the hellhound, Ms. O'Leary, and she came bounding over. Zelda screamed. "No, shh, it's okay. Ms. O'Leary is the only tame hellhound in the world. See?" I put my hand out for Ms. O'Leary to sniff, and she licked it. Zelda began to laugh. "Alright, climb on her back."

She started backing away. "Fine. Don't come with me."

I climbed onto Mrs. O'Leary's back just as Zelda called, "Wait."

I looked back at her. "So then are you coming or not?" She hesitantly climbed onto Mrs. O'Leary's back, and then we were off.

**A/N: Sorry, I know this chapter is really short and I updated it really slow, but I've been really busy between school starting, cheerleading, and my three other stories. Anyway, keep reviewing!**


End file.
